Enchanted Acres

Enchanted Acres is a permaculture and skill sharing project created by myself Clare and my husband Andy. We passionately believe that the ability to grow our own food, build our own homes and create out own power should be available to everyone. The essence of Enchanted Acres as a project stretches between Portugal and the UK where we wish to provide informative workshops in order to pass on the skills and vital knowledge that will enable people to live in harmony with our planet, to the benefit of each other, our children and our wider friends, family and community. We wish to demonstrate the skills that will inspire healthy living and sustainable methods, covering a variety of topics including herbalism, juicing and raw food creation, the making of natural fuels as well as eco building, reflexology, meditation, recycling, rainwater harvesting, foraging, permaculture gardening and basket weaving, while also highlighting the dangers facing our pollinators, marine life and other creatures that are having their habitats destroyed by humans. We believe such knowledge should be shared freely, ensuring that accessibility is open to everyone, without the burden of financial cost. We hope that by sharing and teaching information and skills that we have gained from years of research and application we can reach a wider audience, which, in turn means people will be more willing to offer their new skills to others in a similar vain...aiding us to work together to sustain a healthy mind, body and spirit, while hoping to undo some of the damage from Ecocide which is harming Planet Earth every second of every day. With this crowd funding appeal we are specifically looking for funds to facilitate the hands on practical applications of Enchanted Acres Portugal. For us to get the vital pieces of the jigsaw in place we need £3400 - This money will enable us to start building the main framework in the following ways: - £650 to hire a digger and create rainwater harvesting systems - £900 to purchase trees and seeds with which we can plant the beginnings of an extensive food forest. - £1850 to get the materials with which we can make a brilliant growing space and a straw bale, cob wall classroom where lessons and discussions can be held in any weather conditions. Once these fundamental stages of the project are in place. People from all over Europe can come and learn with us at no cost, either in Portugal or back in the UK. For UK sessions we will have set dates in central locations and can bring information sourced from Enchanted Acres Portugal to share with as many people as possible. We can also supply eco friendly accommodation on site, where people can stay and retreat while learning. To remove the need for money from this area too, we plan to set up a wish list of skills which we and other participants would like to learn, with the offer of free accommodation in exchange for such knowledge. If we manage to exceed our target amount, we intend to use all extra funds to buy more trees which will be planted to offset the carbon footprint from people travelling to Portugal and any journey back to the UK. We will continue to fund further growth of the project through selling tipis and at set times through the year offering the site as a holiday destination for families and couples retreat holidays. We have scraped every penny together to get this project off the ground, but this is the last part that we simply can not not fulfil without your help. We are hoping that what to you individually is a small amount of money, will collectively be enough to really get things moving! We know together we can make a difference to so many people and future generations. We hope you can join us on this wonderful journey, where, with your generosity and our hard work we can build a brilliant space for learning and sharing which can help so many people and form a more secure future for generations to come. Thank you xx

We did it!

On 7th Jun 2013 we successfully raised
£4,127of £3,400 target with 49 supporters in 28 days

Enchanted Acres is a permaculture and skill sharing project created by myself Clare and my husband Andy. We passionately believe that the ability to grow our own food, build our own homes and create out own power should be available to everyone. The essence of Enchanted Acres as a project stretches between Portugal and the UK where we wish to provide informative workshops in order to pass on the skills and vital knowledge that will enable people to live in harmony with our planet, to the benefit of each other, our children and our wider friends, family and community. We wish to demonstrate the skills that will inspire healthy living and sustainable methods, covering a variety of topics including herbalism, juicing and raw food creation, the making of natural fuels as well as eco building, reflexology, meditation, recycling, rainwater harvesting, foraging, permaculture gardening and basket weaving, while also highlighting the dangers facing our pollinators, marine life and other creatures that are having their habitats destroyed by humans. We believe such knowledge should be shared freely, ensuring that accessibility is open to everyone, without the burden of financial cost. We hope that by sharing and teaching information and skills that we have gained from years of research and application we can reach a wider audience, which, in turn means people will be more willing to offer their new skills to others in a similar vain...aiding us to work together to sustain a healthy mind, body and spirit, while hoping to undo some of the damage from Ecocide which is harming Planet Earth every second of every day. With this crowd funding appeal we are specifically looking for funds to facilitate the hands on practical applications of Enchanted Acres Portugal. For us to get the vital pieces of the jigsaw in place we need £3400 - This money will enable us to start building the main framework in the following ways: - £650 to hire a digger and create rainwater harvesting systems - £900 to purchase trees and seeds with which we can plant the beginnings of an extensive food forest. - £1850 to get the materials with which we can make a brilliant growing space and a straw bale, cob wall classroom where lessons and discussions can be held in any weather conditions. Once these fundamental stages of the project are in place. People from all over Europe can come and learn with us at no cost, either in Portugal or back in the UK. For UK sessions we will have set dates in central locations and can bring information sourced from Enchanted Acres Portugal to share with as many people as possible. We can also supply eco friendly accommodation on site, where people can stay and retreat while learning. To remove the need for money from this area too, we plan to set up a wish list of skills which we and other participants would like to learn, with the offer of free accommodation in exchange for such knowledge. If we manage to exceed our target amount, we intend to use all extra funds to buy more trees which will be planted to offset the carbon footprint from people travelling to Portugal and any journey back to the UK. We will continue to fund further growth of the project through selling tipis and at set times through the year offering the site as a holiday destination for families and couples retreat holidays. We have scraped every penny together to get this project off the ground, but this is the last part that we simply can not not fulfil without your help. We are hoping that what to you individually is a small amount of money, will collectively be enough to really get things moving! We know together we can make a difference to so many people and future generations. We hope you can join us on this wonderful journey, where, with your generosity and our hard work we can build a brilliant space for learning and sharing which can help so many people and form a more secure future for generations to come. Thank you xx

Enchanted Acres is a permaculture and skill sharing project created by myself Clare and my husband Andy. We passionately believe that the ability to grow our own food, build our own homes and create out own power should be available to everyone.

The essence of Enchanted Acres as a project stretches between Portugal and the UK where we wish to provide informative workshops in order to pass on the skills and vital knowledge that will enable people to live in harmony with our planet, to the benefit of each other, our children and our wider friends, family and community.

We wish to demonstrate the skills that will inspire healthy living and sustainable methods, covering a variety of topics including herbalism, juicing and raw food creation, the making of natural fuels as well as eco building, reflexology, meditation, recycling, rainwater harvesting, foraging, permaculture gardening and basket weaving, while also highlighting the dangers facing our pollinators, marine life and other creatures that are having their habitats destroyed by humans.

We believe such knowledge should be shared freely, ensuring that accessibility is open to everyone, without the burden of financial cost.

We hope that by sharing and teaching information and skills that we have gained from years of research and application we can reach a wider audience, which, in turn means people will be more willing to offer their new skills to others in a similar vain...aiding us to work together to sustain a healthy mind, body and spirit, while hoping to undo some of the damage from Ecocide which is harming Planet Earth every second of every day.

With this crowd funding appeal we are specifically looking for funds to facilitate the hands on practical applications of Enchanted Acres Portugal.

For us to get the vital pieces of the jigsaw in place we need £3400 - This money will enable us to start building the main framework in the following ways:

- £650 to hire a digger and create rainwater harvesting systems

- £900 to purchase trees and seeds with which we can plant the beginnings of an extensive food forest.

- £1850 to get the materials with which we can make a brilliant growing space and a straw bale, cob wall classroom where lessons and discussions can be held in any weather conditions.

Once these fundamental stages of the project are in place. People from all over Europe can come and learn with us at no cost, either in Portugal or back in the UK. For UK sessions we will have set dates in central locations and can bring information sourced from Enchanted Acres Portugal to share with as many people as possible.

We can also supply eco friendly accommodation on site, where people can stay and retreat while learning. To remove the need for money from this area too, we plan to set up a wish list of skills which we and other participants would like to learn, with the offer of free accommodation in exchange for such knowledge.

If we manage to exceed our target amount, we intend to use all extra funds to buy more trees which will be planted to offset the carbon footprint from people travelling to Portugal and any journey back to the UK. We will continue to fund further growth of the project through selling tipis and at set times through the year offering the site as a holiday destination for families and couples retreat holidays.

We have scraped every penny together to get this project off the ground, but this is the last part that we simply can not not fulfil without your help. We are hoping that what to you individually is a small amount of money, will collectively be enough to really get things moving!

We know together we can make a difference to so many people and future generations. We hope you can join us on this wonderful journey, where, with your generosity and our hard work we can build a brilliant space for learning and sharing which can help so many people and form a more secure future for generations to come. Thank you xx

About the project owner

We are tipi makers currently based in West Cornwall, where we live with our son Thomas who is 4 years old, and our ‘rescue’ animal family consisting of a rather strange but adorable hairless dog called Benji, Molly the blind cat, Frugal the irritating puppy, Puck and Torsie the tortoises and Cuckoo and Dandelion our silkie hen and cockerel.

We grow our own vegetables within a permaculture framework and keep healthy using herbalism, mediation, reflexology, yoga and juicing, while living as much of a low impact life as possible and recycling or re-using everything we can.